« McCain's Real America: Having Fun Over Obama's Grandmother's Death | Home | Greg Palast and RFK, Jr. on How The Election Could Be Stolen »
Too Radical, Too Risky
That's the punchline of a Minister of Hate ad run by something called GOPTrust just now--on MSNBC, during Olbermann's show.
James Fallows same the same ad a few hours ago on MSNBC in California. He saw it several times. I saw it in New York. So some Republican outfit, on election night, is throwing money away on Keith Olbermann fans in the safest states in the universe.
I can't improve on Fallows:
Brilliant move! On the last day of the campaign, using money for a saturation ad campaign (a) in California, no one's idea of a swing state; (b) on MSNBC, with no one's idea of an "undecided" audience; and (c) on a theme that the candidate himself has theoretically forsworn, therefore probably building up as much extra resentment among the California/MSNBC viewers as it does enthusiasm among the GOP base.Not for the first time during this campaign, I've wondered whether some of McCain's "brains trust" actually are moles trying to make sure he goes down hard.
Moles, Manchurian Operatives, maybe North Koreans. Not real Americans.
Advertisement
Several times earlier in this campaign I wondered what was behind some of McCain's tactics, but always thinking "these guys are pros, they know what they're doing."
Turns out they were all a bunch of idiots. Ultimately it goes all the way to the top - McCain's decision to let the Rove boys in (Steve Schmidt et al) and let the Rove boys persuade him to ditch his old trusted advisors. The maverick brand, gone.
Remember a couple weeks ago, when McCain canceled a campaign stop because it was raining? Pathetic.
John McCain: Quitter-in-Chief.
November 3, 2008 9:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check out www.newwestnotes.com
Bill Bradely has some good insides and insights
on McCains campaign crew. Well worth reading.
He also posts on Huffington. I gave up on Huff cause of cencorship of reader posts. Freee Speech!!!
November 4, 2008 4:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Also, the old Cheney Rove political organization would never have permitted the freelancing that resulted in the Ashley Todd episode a couple weeks ago.
November 3, 2008 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to wonder if this campaign isn't designed so much to win the election as to sow the seeds of an effort to delegitimize an Obama presidency.
November 3, 2008 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kev,
they may be doing that already with comments about stolen elections, etc. I also hear now that McCain would be winning if the economy didn't go south.
Look for the 'formidbale' but rarely mentioned conservative media to start attacking the day after Obama is elected.
As I said in another post, losing the White House
might not be the worst thing to happen to Republicans; if Obama is just a half way decent President and things start looking up, Republicans might lose their ability to use race
to divide the country.
November 4, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
That ad has been playing over and over in MN too. What is striking to me in the ad is the background where the word HATE is repeated over and over and over. I suppose it's meant to be directed at Wright, but it strikes me as being aimed back at me, the viewer, and I wonder if it isn't just so beyond obvious to people seeing it that HATE is precisely the message they're being sold. I really think that the wingnuts have finally gone so far in so many ways that even low information Americans can't miss their message. I think they've crossed from selling fear to convincing people they need to be feared.
November 3, 2008 11:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not for the first time during this campaign, I've wondered whether some of McCain's "brains trust" actually are moles trying to make sure he goes down hard.
I don’t think they’re moles, I think they’re haughty and arrogant.
The whole situation reminded me of an account in ancient Israel
Canaanite King Jabin and his Army chief Sisera came to oppress Israel for 20 years
On hearing that Deborah and Barak had mustered the Israelites to fight against him, Sisera collected his forces, including his
900 iron-scythed chariots, and confronted Israel at the torrent valley of Kishon
His chariots bogged down (compare Jg 5:21),
(Judges 5:20) 20 From heaven did the stars fight, From their orbits they fought against Sis´e·ra. (It rained meteorites on his troops)
Sisera fled on foot, coming to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who was at peace with Jabin. She invited him inside. Exhausted from the battle and the flight, the weary Sisera, depending on the safety of Jael’s tent, decided to rest. Jael gave Sisera some milk to drink, and he asked her to stand guard. When he had fallen into a sound sleep, she stealthily went up to him and drove a tent pin through his temples into the earth.
Sisera’s mother and her household waited in vain for him to return with great spoil.—(Judges 5:28-30) . . .
From the window a woman looked out and kept watching for him, The mother of Sis´e·ra from the lattice, ‘Why has his war chariot delayed in coming? Why must the hoofbeats of his chariots be so late?’ 29 The wise ones of her noble ladies would answer her, Yes, she too would talk back to herself with her own sayings, 30 ‘Ought they not to find, ought they not to distribute spoil, A womb—two wombs to every able-bodied man, Spoil of dyed stuffs for Sis´e·ra, spoil of dyed stuffs, An embroidered garment, dyed stuff, two embroidered garments For the necks of [men of] spoil?’
Wardrobes?
The Republicans thought they had won the prize, they would have the spoils.
NOT
November 3, 2008 11:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is not an attempt to affect the outcome of the election. they have already conceded it. It's an early attack from the insurgency. A cursory search reveal a few usual suspects.
Dumping data from a quick data dive - (sorry about the excaped URL, but the 2 link max per comment would have dumped it otherwise)
GOPTrust (goptrust.com) is a front for a front. It was spawned by The National Republican Trust PAC (nationalrepublicantrust.com).
Reverse look-up domain data:
Both goptrust.com and nationalrepublicantrust.com have stealthed domain ownership through GoDaddy's service; DomainsByProxy.com. Both domains are hosted on GoDaddy servers, and look to be basic shared server accounts.
The National Republican Trust PAC website lists two as "staff": Scott Wheeler - Eexecutive Director, and Peter Leitner - Treasurer
Wheeler can be directly tied to Sun Myung Moon and Paul Weyrich. Peter Leitner is a former Pentagon adviser and president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center, and signatory of The Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty, a shadowy org formed with the intent to derail the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
See:
November 3, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey thanks for the detective work. I also saw an add by arch neocon Frank Gaffney on CNN. He was basically saying how screwed we would be if Obama wins. I didnt catch who sponsered the message.
Any ideas?
November 4, 2008 4:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mysterious,
I caught that Gaffeny ad too. Philly area is getting flooded with anti Obama ads, from a number of different sources.
November 4, 2008 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Precisely. And you've got the names there to back up what you're saying and I totally agree.
It's like the oft repeated movie scene where you have a supposed corpse in the coffin and it sits up and grabs you. Yesiree they're baaaaack, the vast right wing conspiracy.
People, you thought things like the death of Jerry Falwell, the willingness of Richard Mellon Scaife and Rupert Murdoch types to look anew openly at Democrats, or the change in Bob Barr's attitude, means that a stake had been driven through its heart?! You were wrong! It's alive.
Why, look with open eyes: Sarah Palin knows it's alive. She's pandered to it more and more everyday ever since she decided she wasn't going to play with the McCain team and start looking out for numero uno. The woman sees the potential clear as a bell and she's going to get her some of that. :-) (The last Saturday Night Live skit with the real McCain in it, the QVC one, got this pat down--Tina Fey as Palin in an aside said, I am going to be either the next Oprah or pres in 2012, be happy with either.)
I predict you will see the equivalent of "Vince Foster was murdered" videos about Obama before he is even inaugurated. You know how the more unhinged of Obama's big fans tend to see something auspicious, mystical, message bearing about his rise and success? You know how the lines at the polls and interest in the election have inspired every pundit and blogger to wax poetic on greater meaning? Well, those same things are frightening right wingers along ye olde anti-Christ lines, and they have to make up a narrative to explain their fears.
I'm pretty sure of my prognosis here. Heck, an outpouring of voting by previously nonvoting minorities is enough to reactivate the supposed corpse, frightening the beejesus out of them with every kind of scary "the other" they could possibly imagine.
The only interesting question left at this point, in my mind, is whether Newt Gingrich and his conservative pals in Congress are going to decide to work with these Moonie type loonies. If he does, I am thinking he's going to do to himself what McCain did to himself in running the kind of campaign he did. It would behoove right wingers who want any success in their goals to keep in mind one thing: if Obama has any strong ideological beliefs, it's this one: majority rules uber alles. (You think you saw Bill Clinton govern by polls, you haven't seen nothing yet.) They will be stymied by the majority this time as long as Obama continues to court the majority as strongly as he has his whole political life.
November 4, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
P.S. I have less doubt about my belief in Obama's pragmatism and relativism than anything else about him, I think it goes way beyond the same for which Bill Clinton was criticized. A theoretical example: if someone like Weyrich starts pushing one of his favs, like "beware the U.N. black helicopters are coming", and it happened to take enough hold with the general public for one breaking news reason or another, a President Obama would simply find some Sister Souljah moment to serve to distance himself from the U.N. for a short while. And I don't think it's bad thing, I think it's a good thing, as I believe that incrementalism is the way of all things unless a rare "seize the moment" opportunity arises.
November 4, 2008 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
What PseudoCyAnts said. This ad is not from the McCain campaign. And I would suspect that it's part of a national media buy, that's why NYC and CA are getting the ads even though they are unlikely to be the target. I would figure it's running on multiple news network programming.
November 3, 2008 11:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
The same ad has been running a whole lot the last 2-3 days through our northcentral WV cable system.
While most pollsters color WV red, there seems to be some groundswell support for Obama.
Will it be enough to overcome the BS ads???
We have to wait and see.....
Praying hard in WV that the sheeple wake up....
November 4, 2008 9:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
The ad also has been running on CNBC. Mr. Jeffrey Immelt, New Canaan, CT., a major Republican contributor,is the CEO of General Electric, Fairfield, CT. which owns these cable stations. Why not drop him a line at GE and tell him how disgusted you are with the ads and with him and GE for its participation in hatemongering and spreading of lies. It can't hurt!
November 4, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
They were running the "REev Wright" ad on the SNL special in the Chicago (WMAQ) market.
Boy, did they keep THAT powder dry!
Now Obama will lose Chicago. DANG!
As someone once said...
This is EXCELLENT news...for MCCAIN!
November 4, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should appoint the Reverand Wright as Secretary of State just to piss off the wingnuts.
November 4, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
We had MSNBC on for most of the evening last night and saw this ad about 6 times, in northern New Jersey. I can't even guess at what this group was thinking. Did they imagine they were going to inspire anything but multiple households hitting the mute button simultaneously?
November 4, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahhaa pailn is so so so stupid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exiyBYnJ00
November 4, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink